1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an omnidirectional photographing device capable of photographing a 360-degree annular image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Up to now, in a television conference or the like, to simultaneously photograph all participants, an omnidirectional photographing device capable of performing 360-degree omnidirectional photographing has been used in a state of being installed on a conference table or the like. Known as the omnidirectional photographing device of this type is an omnidirectional photographing device which can perform 360-degree omnidirectional photographing by arranging a plurality of camera modules equipped with image pickup elements such as charge coupled devices (CCD) and lenses in a circumferential direction of a disk-shaped camera head. Another omnidirectional photographing device known to have the above type can photograph a 360-degree omnidirectional annular image by arranging a reflecting mirror constituted of a convex mirror in an upper part of one camera module equipped with an image pickup element and a lens. It should be noted that 360-degree omnidirectional photographing can be carried out by rotating a camera module by a rotary-driving mechanism or the like.
None of those omnidirectional photographing devices include a display unit such as a monitor for displaying an image photographed by the camera module or a recording unit such as a hard disk for recording the photographed image. Thus, the image is displayed in a display device connected to the omnidirectional photographing device through a predetermined cable, or recorded in a recording device connected thereto through a predetermined cable.
The above omnidirectional photographing device that includes the camera modules arranged in the circumferential direction of the camera head needs a plurality of camera modules. Even the omnidirectional photographing device that includes one camera module needs a reflecting mirror while only one camera module is needed. In other words, the omnidirectional photographing devices are both complex in configuration. Recently, to simplify such omnidirectional photographing devices more, a camera module (RPU-C251, RPU-C352 or the like by SONY) has been proposed which can directly take a 360-degree annular image by using a special lens having a reflecting surface fixed to its top thus eliminating a necessity of using a reflecting mirror. The camera module of such a type enables 360-degree omnidirectional photographing by one camera module without using any rotary-driving mechanisms or reflecting mirrors.
The omnidirectional photographing device can be simplified in configuration by using the newly proposed camera module. However, the use of the omnidirectional photographing device that employs the newly proposed camera module has just started, and almost no specific configuration has been disclosed.